Workers at the Hyatt Regency Montreal staged a snap strike Friday, the first in a series of pressure tactics that hotel employees across the province say are necessary to jump-start stalled contract talks.

About 280 workers at the downtown hotel walked off the job and staged a noisy rally outside the building before leaving the premises peacefully in the afternoon.

Unionized workers at the hotel hope the 24-hour job action will lead to a formal meeting with management to negotiate a new contract.

"We're just sitting and waiting for a date, or something," said Réjean Tremblay, a union spokesman with the CSN labour federation. "We want [job] security, which we don't have."

On Thursday night, workers at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel on René-Lévesque Boulevard voted in favour of a surprise strike mandate, which allows them to walk off the job at any time without notice.

The strike mandates are part of a larger push across the province to improve working conditions in hotels, the CSN said.

Workers are seeking better benefits and more job security.

The rolling strikes are scheduled during Montreal's busiest tourist season, when the city hosts several festivals, including the Jazz Fest and Just for Laughs, that draw tens of thousands of people to the island.

The co-ordinated strikes aren't designed to inconvenience tourists, said the CSN — but guests at the Hyatt told CBC News they felt the effects.

"We could check into one room, but it wasn't cleaned," said Michelle Goldstein, who booked a room at the Hyatt Regency this weekend.

"Another individual's clothes were in there still, and my son's [cot] didn't come in until 10:30 p.m. It was an impossible situation for all."

The CSN said general assemblies are planned for employees at 41 hotels across the province, to ask workers whether they want to support the proposed strike mandate.

Management at the Hyatt Regency could not be reached for comment.

The CSN Federation represents about 5,000 hotel workers, including housekeepers, cleaners and cooks.